In the Not to Distant Future
by Ryan T. Morris
Summary: Kimberly’s been held against her will for 5 years, and after a stroke of luck she is set free. What will happen when she and Tommy are reunited?


In the Not to Distant Future: Chapter 1  
By Ryan T. Morris

Summery: Kimberly's been held against her will for 5 years, and after a stroke of luck she is set free. What will happen when she and Tommy are reunited?

Notes: _Power Rangers _and all related characters are the property of The Walt Disney Company. This story takes places during Dino Thunder. More notes at the end of this chapter.

Kimberly Hart awoke in her tiny bedroom she looked around and sighed, "I'm still here." She pulled herself out of bed, and went over to the closet and looked at what she had to wear. T-shirts, green jumpsuits, & blue jumpsuits. She pulled on a white t-shirt, blue jumpsuit and slipped on a pair of black hiking boots. Then she looked out the window of her room and down at the Earth below, sighed and thought about the events that led up to her being trapped in space and her life for the past…

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It was October of 2001, and she was living a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota called Eden Prairie. She was doing some substitute teaching and to make some extra money she worked for a temp agency. The one drawback was to temp agency job was that when she was working, she had to wear a navy blue jumpsuit, that had a big smiley face on the back and around it said, "I spell fun, W-O-R-K."

One day she was sent to a place called Gizmonics Institute. She had to help a man named Dr. Clayton Forester and his assistant Frank get ready for an audit. When she arrived she was directed to one of the subterranean laboratories called Deep 13. Upon entering Deep 13 she learned that Dr. Forester was a mad scientist and the audit was from the Fraternal Order of Mad Science, they wanted to know if Dr. Forester was mad enough to be called a mad scientist. Kimberly found out that Dr. Forester planed on taking over the world by forcing the world to watch the worst movies ever made.

His test subject was a man named Joel Robinson, a janitor at Gizmonics Institute, who was trapped aboard an orbiting space station named the Satellite of Love. On board with Joel were 4 robots that Joel had built out of spare parts that he found on the ship, Crow, Tom Servo, Gypsy, and Cambot. Crow and Tom would go with Joel into the large theater on board the ship and, together, the three of them would make fun of the bad movies they were forced to watch. Cambot also went into the theater and recorded Joel and the robots watching the movie, so Dr. Forester and Frank could monitor Joel's mind. Gypsy's main purpose was to monitor the ship's higher functions.

While Joel, Crow, and Tom where off doing something on another part of the ship, Gypsy over heard Dr. Forester and Frank discussing their plans to kill their newly hired temp, Kimberly. Gypsy mistakenly thought the person they were planning to kill was Joel. So, she instantly started on working on a plan to send Joel back to Earth. But, she couldn't think of anything. So she decide to ask Kimberly for help, she explanted the situation to her and, with Kimberly's help, Gypsy learned that the SOL was carrying a secret, single-occupant escape pod and how to gain control of it. Desperate to save Joel, Gypsy tossed him into the escape pod and launched it before he could object. Furious at Joel's escape, Dr. F. sent Kimberly up to the SOL to take his place.

After Kimberly arrived, the robots put her in training to prepare for the actual experiments. Over time she got really good at making fun of the moves. About a year and a half later, Frank was assumed into "second banana" heaven, a "beautiful place where lackeys, toadies and whipping boys are forever safe and free from their oppressors." Shortly afterwards, Dr. Forester's mother, Pearl, moved in and a few months later, Dr. F. was forced to close down Deep 13 because of lack of funding. Forced to move in with his mom, he released the Satellite of Love from its orbit and casually informed Kimberly and the Bots they would soon burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

But Tom and Gypsy found a way to increase the SOL's power and they managed to escape the Earth's atmosphere. They were hurled into deep space and when the SOL reached the edge of the universe, all its inhabitants were transformed into pure spirit and happily floated away.

About 522 years later, Kimberly and the bots re-appeared on the bridge, drawn back to the Satellite of Love by some unknown force. All except Crow. The rest of the SOL crew, upon their arrival, found that Crow was already there. He explained that he quickly grew bored of being pure spirit and returned to the SOL, where he had lived quietly for hundreds of years. During that time he redecorated the ship, while his voice changed -- and, to some extent, his personality.

Kimberly, Tom Servo and Gypsy had no time to puzzle over the strange changes in Crow, because a crisis immediately overtook them all: The ship was about to crash into a strange planet. On closer examination, they realized the planet was Earth. In desperation, Kimberly pulled an emergency brake which stopped the ship, but also dropped the transmission right out of the middle. Some help in repairing the ship might come, Crow explained, from the Nanites: tiny, microscopic robotic life forms which had infested the ship during their absence.

That idea was surprising enough, but even more surprising was what Kimberly and the Bots learned when they tried to contact Deep 13: It was gone and in its place was a lab run by intelligent apes, and that on Earth it was the year 2525. In charge of the lab was a Professor Bobo, but even he answered to a higher authority: The Lawgiver.

The Lawgiver was finally revealed to be none other than Dr. Forrester's mom, Pearl, who had been cryogenically frozen, and later thawed out by the apes. Just as mean as ever, she told Kimberly she was determined to carry on her son's movie-watching experiment.

A few weeks later, Kimberly and the Bots were horrified to see that the apes were happily assisting their neighbors, a nuclear bomb-worshiping cult of mutants, in their efforts to set off a nuclear device. Thanks to some well-meaning but boneheaded advice from Kimberly, they succeeded. Some quick repair work from the Nanites allowed the Satellite of Love to escape Earth orbit just seconds before Earth was destroyed. It looked as if Pearl had perished in the explosion--but the rumors of her death were greatly exaggerated. She escaped in The Widowmaker, a spaceship made out of a Volkswagen Microbus, and soon discovered that Professor Bobo had stowed away aboard her ship as well. Undaunted by the Earth's destruction and with Bobo as her new sidekick, she continued sending bad movies to Kimberly and the Bots as she chased them across time and space.

Soon, the SOL was captured by The Observers: omniscient, super-intelligent beings who carry their brains around in little dishes. They also captured Pearl and Bobo, and were "observing" Pearl's experiment as a prelude, they said, to dissecting them.

After spending several weeks being observed, Kimberly asked the Nanites for help in rescuing Pearl and Bobo, and the Nanites obliged by cheerfully blowing up The Observers' planet. Pearl and Bobo escaped--and soon discovered that an Observer had stowed away as well. Now with two sidekicks, Pearl continued her pursuit of the SOL.

They next visited an unknown planet, where they encountered several strange races, including all-powerful space children. Finally, under attack by killer robots, Pearl, Bobo and Observer needed rescuing again. Pearl begged for air cover, and Kimberly responded by concocting a baking soda bomb. But she used a bit too much baking soda, and--you guessed it--blew up yet another planet. Pearl, Bobo and Observer barely escaped once again.

A few weeks later, Kimberly was put on trial by a galactic court for blowing up all those planets. Despite having Bobo as her defense attorney and Pearl as the prosecutor, Kimberly was victorious and was allowed to return to the SOL.

The SOL and the Widowmaker were sucked into a wormhole and eventually arrived on Earth in "Roman Times" A couple of months later they all escaped from Roman Times and traveled through the wormhole again, Soon the Satellite of Love's wanderings through space and time came to an end. Exiting the wormhole, Kimberly and the Bots found themselves orbiting 2003 Earth, while on the planet Pearl, Bobo and Observer moved into Pearl's ancestral home, Castle Forrester.

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Kimberly left her room and walked to the galley, and there, waiting for her, was Gypsy. "Good Morning, Kimberly…" said Gypsy.

"Morning, Gypsy," said Kimberly, as she poured herself a cup of coffee, "What have you got for me?"

"Oxygen/Nitrogen mix is within required standards, we are currently in orbit over Southern Japan, and that wonderful smell is a lamb roast I have in the oven!"

"And, sweet yams?" asked Kimberly.

"Affirmative… Oh and I compiled today's wire service reports. The hardcopy is on the counter… The Cubs lost again…"

"Thank you, Gypsy." said Kim, as she picked up the paper and walked onto the bridge, with Gypsy following close behind. She then heard some pounding noises coming from the lower levels of the ship. She just brushed it off as just normal satellite noises.

Just then, Tom floated onto the bridge, "Oh… Hi, Kim, how are things going on the ol' Satellite of Love today, hmm? No dangerous problems or horrible mishaps in sight, hmm?

"No, Tom," said Kim, as she read the paper, "Everything appears nominal."

"Nominal… Good… Good… So I guess means your not worried about that rhythmic pounding?"

Kim thought for a moment, "Yeah, What is that?"

"Yeah, what is that?" repeated Tom, "I'm a highly sophisticated robot, Kim, and I'm telling you this is not something you should be hearing. Something's causing this, Kim. Now, let's think …I'm here, you're here, Gypsy's here…"

"Where's Crow?"

"Where's Crow?" repeated Tom, "I'm not supposed to say anything, but I did see that little moron heading towards the basement with a pickax in his hand…"

Kim's eyes went wide, then she turned toward Gypsy, "Gypsy, go to Condition Yellow. We've got to stop him!"

"Roger!" said Gypsy, as the yellow light above the door leading to the theater turned on.

Meanwhile, Crow was busy pounding the floor in the bottom of the ship. He was wearing a World War I-era helmet and as he "dug" he sang, "It's a long way to Tipperary. To the sweetest girl I know! Good bye to Noah Beery. Hello, Harold Lloyd!"

"CROW!" yelled Kimberly, as she and Tom peered into basement, "Stop right now!"

"Oh, Hi, Kim!" said Crow, as he continued, "I found the perfect spot! Once I break through this wall, we'll tunnel our way right back to Earth."

"Crow, you big dope!" said Tom, as he and Kim entered the room, "You can't tunnel through space!"

"Come, come, Boys. We must confound Jerry at ever turn."

"Crow, No!" said Kim, "You'll breach the hull!"

Crow swung his pickax one more time and then he poked a hole in the hull, and the oxygen started to be sucked out of the ship. Kim grabbed on to the stairs to so she wouldn't be sucked through the small hole. "I didn't expect this!" said Crow. Since, Tom's arms didn't work, and he didn't have any legs, he tried to use his hovering capabilities to prevent from being sucked through the hole but he wasn't successful. Luckily, Kim grabbed on to one of his hands in the nick of time, but since his arm was just a spring he was still being pulled toward the hole.

"Wow, this _is_ confusing," said Crow, "Kim, could you hand me my calculations?" just then the sheet of paper with his calculations hit him in the face, "Thank you… Wow, look at that. 'Breech Hull, All Die.' Even had it underlined."

Just then Tom's hand snapped from his spring arm, "Servo!" screamed Kim as she watch him be pulled toward the hole. Luckily, the hole was small enough so his hover skirt, temporarily plugged the hole. "Atta boy, Servo!" said Kim as she walked over to him and Crow.

"Well, I won't do that again," said Crow.

"Hey," said Tom, "Hey, I'm experiencing a sensation altogether new to me, and frankly, I love it!"

"Now, Crow," said Kim as she took his helmet off, "I told you no more escape attempts."

"Believe me, Kim," said Crow, "I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid, and I went ahead anyway."

Kim then moved Tom off of the hole and put the helmet in his place, "Ah darn," said Tom.

Just then the satellite started to rock from side to side, "Now what?" said Kim, "Come on, guys, we better head back to the bridge. I bet Mrs. F is behind this."

The reached the bridge and saw an image of their captor, Pearl Forrester, on the main view screen. She had a joystick in her hands and was moving it back and forth, "Oh, Hi Himberly Kart. How do you like my new joystick? Got it at Radio Shack. Hey, I was wondering… What does a high speed tumble do to your stomach?" Then she shoved the joystick forward, and then the Satellite started a high speed drop toward Earth. "I am just messin' with everybody today." Pearl pulled back on the stick to return the Satellite to it's normal orbit but she pulled it to hard and the sick broke off, "What'd I do? What'd I do?"

Meanwhile back on the SOL, Kim and the Bots breathed a sigh of relive as the Satellite returned to a normal position. "I feel sick," said Crow, as he went under the desk in the middle of the bridge.

Just then Gypsy entered with some good news, "Hey, you guys. The retro-fire has been activated and the ship's initiating a re-entry protocol. Prepare for gravitational insertion."

"Kim," said Tom, "this means we're headed... to Earth! Hahaha!" Everyone cheered, except Crow, who was throwing up under the desk. "Crow, you're wrecking the moment," said Tom

"I'm sorry. P'too," said Crow.

Back at Castle Forester, Observer walked into the main room, carrying his brain in one hand and a blow dryer in the other. He was using the blow dryer to dry off his brain and he said, "Apparently, you initiated re-entry protocol for the satellite."

"Well, make it… not protocol…. the re-entry. Make it better!" said Pearl.

"Well, you broke off the stick of joy. It's irreversible. And wet bread."

"You're omnipotent, do something!"

"Uh, Pearl, the Mountain Dew you so playfully poured into my brain pan affected my gravitational control as well as my speech centers. Table dog purple liquefy."

"No, dammit. No! They will not escape me! I'll see them dead first."

Just then, Bobo entered the room eating a banana, "Hey, Lawgiver. Why don't you just take and use the satellite's self-destruct mechanism?"

"We have one?" asked Pearl.

"Yeah, right there," said Bobo, as he pointed to the self-destruct button.

"Bobo, I'm a genius! Take this, losers!" said Pearl, as she pressed the button.

"Ah, jelly squint," said Observer.

Back on the SOL, Kim and the Bots huddled together, "Ah, this is it!" said Kim, "I love you, Crow. I love you, Servo. I love you, Gypsy."

"I love you, Kim. I love you, Servo. I love you, Crow," said Gypsy

" I love you, Gypsy. I love you, Kim. I love you, Servo," said Crow.

Then, Servo said, "I love you, Gypsy. I love you, Kim. Mmm!"

Just then a light bulb in one of the lights, behind the desk popped, and the crew breathed a sigh of relief, Crow looked over at Tom and said, "Um, Servo? You want to add...?"

"I was gonna say it!" said Tom, "I just couldn't think of your name!"

"Yeah, right."

Back at the Castle, Observer said, "Well, the Satellite of Love is headed back to Earth. Paper not bound defeat."

"It's as good as done, Lawgiver." said Bobo.

"No! No! No! No! Oh! Aah! Aah!" screamed Pearl, as she started throwing stuff around the room.

"Oh. Can't be good for us!" said Bobo.

"No," said Observer.

Just then, Pearl punched Bobo in the face, "See?" said Bobo, as he fell to the floor. Then, Pearl went back to tearing up the place.

"Raging clip art. Ooh," said Observer:

Back on the Satellite…

"Re-entry commencing. Entering lower orbit," said Gypsy, "We'll be landing in one hour and fifty-five minutes."

Everyone onboard started to cheer, "We did it! We did it!" said Crow.

"Well, we didn't really do it, but…" said Kim.

"Well, it was done by someone!" said Crow.

"Yes, someone did it!" said Kim.

"It was done!" said Tom.

Back at the Castle, Observer was comforting Pearl, "There, there." Pearl looked up at gave Observer quite a shock, Pearl was crying so much her eye makeup started to run giving her "raccoon eyes."

"Oh. So you're coming back to Earth, huh?" said Pearl, "So I failed, huh? Dah!" Observer ran screaming out of the room, then Pearl continued, "That's fine. That's okay. Good for you! But there's still one button that works, so you're still getting your final movie. I give you... 'Diabolik'. If it gives you half the hell I have had to endure keeping you captive, it will all have been worth it." Pearl then pushed the button to send the movie to the Satellite.

Back on the SOL, buzzers were buzzing and the lights where flashing, "Oh, Movie Sign!

Let's go!" said Kim, as she started to rush into the theater.

"Boy, we're not going to be hearing that back on Earth," said Crow.

"Yeah, let's enjoy," said Tom.

"Yeah."

Kim came back on the bridge and said "Would you get in the theater, please?" then she took off again.

"Boy, we're not going to be hearing that, either," said Crow.

"Yeah, let's enjoy," said Tom.

"Yeah."

Kim came back on the bridge, grabbed both of them and said, "C'mon!" Then she and the Bots headed in the theater for the last time.

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Meanwhile, in the underground laboratory of Dr. Thomas Oliver, his assistant Haley Johnson was at the computer, when the planetary alarm started going off. She opened the window and looked at the information, "Tommy… Come look at this…"

Tommy walked over and stood behind her chair, "What is Haley?"

"There is a large satellite de-orbiting and according to the projected path its heading right for the lake, in the woods, behind the house."

"Who's satellite is it?"

Hayley tapped at the keyboard, "According to this it is a unmanned research station owned by a company from Minnesota called Gizmonics Industries."

"Should be nothing… by the time it gets through the atmosphere it should be completely disintegrated…"

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One hour and fifty-five minutes later, they finished watching the movie and Tom Servo was behind the wheel of the Satellite of Love. Kim asked, "Tom, what's our situation?"

"Beginning re-entry, Kim!" replied Tom.

"Good."

Just then there was a loud bang "Primary heat shield failure, Kim!" said Tom.

"Bad. Well, what's going on?" asked Kim.

"Deck 3 broken away." Another loud bang. " Deck 4 broken away."

"Oh my gosh! Cambot, give me Rocket Number Nine!" She pressed a button on the desk and the view screen showed the outside of the satellite and pieces breaking off of it.

"Whoa, Nellie!" said Tom, "Deck 5 broken away. Deck 6 broken away. Deck 7 melting, and broken away."

"Gypsy, what do we do?" asked Kim.

"If the secondary heat shield fails, we burn up horribly. It's too dreadful to contemplate. Oh, thank God in Heaven, please have mercy on our souls!" said Gypsy.

"I'll call Pearl," said Kim.

"Now sing, damnit, sing!" said Pearl, as she, Bobo and Observer were all huddled together and they all started to sing, "It's a long way to Tipperary... It's a long way…"

Pearl broke from the huddle and walked over to a large black cord on the floor, as she did Bobo and Observer took off running. She looked up at her monitor and said, " Look, Hart. Move on. I am." Then she pulled the plug on the transmission.

"Whoa! Deck 9 crashing through Decks 10 and 11," said Tom.

"This is it! We're going down!" said Gypsy.

"Brace for impact!" said Kim.

"We're all gonna die!" said Tom.

"Kim, have you seen my other sweater!" said Crow as he popped up in front of the desk. Everyone screamed, but just then they heard a loud pop and felt there speed start to decrease.

"What happened?" asked Kim.

"The Drogue chute deployed, we are currently at 24,000 feet and dropping," said Gypsy.

"You mean were going to make it?"

"Looks like it!" Everyone cheered.

"Where are we landing Gypsy?" asked Kim.

"We are heading for Reefside, California. We are going to be landing in a medium sized lake."

"OK… Open all frequencies hopefully some one will answer."

"Frequencies open, Kim," said Gypsy.

"Thanks Gypsy, This is Kimberly Hart… I'm currently on board what's left of a space station… I'm with my 4 robot companions and we are heading for a lake in Reefside, California…"

Haley was watching the progress of the SOL's de-orbiting and was stunned when she got the message for help… "Tommy… Get over here, NOW!"

"What is it, Haley?"

Haley didn't have to tell him he saw the screen and was just as stunned as his friend, "Kimberly? But how? You said that satellite was unmanned?"

"Well, I guess, there was some mix up…"

"Can we answer them?"

She pressed a button on the console, "This is Reefside, California to de-orbiting space station. Please respond…." No answer. "This is Reefside, California to de-orbiting space station. Please respond…." Again no answer. "I guess there communication system must have been damaged in the reentry they can send but the can't receive."

"Where are they?"

"They are currently at 10,350 feet… The Pilot chute just opened… Make that 10,000 feet… The Main Chute just deployed."

"Call the Rangers… We are going to need the Pterazord for a rescue mission…"

"Right…" said Haley, as she called the Power Rangers.

Back on what was left of the SOL, "Stand by for splashdown…" said Gypsy. Everyone who had working arms grabbed onto the desk as they hit the water.

Kim stood up and looked out the window, it was still daylight, "We made it, guys! We're on Earth!"

Everyone started to cheer and celebrate. Crow looked out the window, "What is that!"

"I'm not sure," said Gypsy, "But it looks like a large metal pterodactyl."

Kim's eyes lit up, "It must be the Power Rangers…"

"The Power Rangers?" asked Tom, "Aren't those the people who run around in spandex outfits, and fight all sorts of weirdoes that want to talk over the world with a big giant robots"

"Yep… And I never told you guys but I was the first Pink Ranger…"

"Really?" asked Tom, Kim nodded, and he said "That is so cool!"

Just then they heard a couple of people drop on top of the ship. "Can you here us?" asked a male voice.

"Yes…" said Kim, "We can here you…"

"We're the Power Rangers," said another male voice, "We're going to hook on to your ship and take you back to our Zord holding bay."

"OK," said Kim. They heard the Power Rangers hook onto the ship and after a short while the were being lifted out of the lake. And after a few minutes, the former bridge of the Satellite of Love was sitting on the floor of the Zord holding bay.

"You guys ready?" asked Kim.

"Yeah…" said Tom.

"Yep…" said Crow.

"Gypsy, open the door," said Kim.

Just then the large door behind the desk that used to lead to the theater opened. There waiting for them were three Power Rangers; Red, Yellow, & Blue.

"Power Down." said the Red Ranger, the three Rangers returned to there normal form, "I'm Conner McKnight. This is Kira Ford and Ethan James."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Kimberly Hart, I was the first Pink Ranger."

"We know," said Kira, "Our mentor has told us all about you…"

"Really? Who's your mentor?"

"I am," said another male voice. Kimberly looked in the direction of the voice and out of

the shadows stepped Tommy Oliver and the second Kimberly saw him she fainted.

To Be Continued…

Notes Part 2:  
_Mystery Science Theater 3000_ and all related characters are the property of Best Brains, Inc. Some dialog borrowed from _Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie _& the Series Finale.


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